E29: Bradford City of Culture: The Year That Changed Everything and What Comes Next
Bradford was UK’s City of Culture in 2025. The events happened, the crowds came, the spotlight found a city that had been waiting a long time to show the world what it was made of. The real question begins: what did it actually leave behind?
In this final episode of our Bradford miniseries, recorded live at the Bradford Showcase at UKREiiF 2026, Tanisha Raffiuddin sits down with Zulfikar Karim, who has spent 25 years in Bradford's cultural landscape, and David Watson, Bradford Council's new Assistant Director of Culture, Policy and Events, to talk about legacy, momentum, and what comes next.
Topics covered:
The 20-year ambition behind Bradford's City of Culture bid and what winning actually felt like
Delivering the year: pace, partnership, exhaustion, and why some of it was experimental on purpose
Why Bradford extended City of Culture beyond the city to the whole district
Culture as civic infrastructure: Why the argument has already been won
Culture as the number one pillar in Bradford's Built Different growth plan
The return on £50 million invested in cultural programming
Core memories, collective experiences, and the intangible value of a cultural year
How to stop momentum stalling when the spotlight moves on
Planning Bradford's cultural legacy for 2030, 2040, and beyond
2025 was a rebrand, not a reinvention: Bradford is still Bradford
About Our Guests
Zulfikar Karim
Bradford born and bred, fifth generation of South Asian heritage, and has spent the last 25 years working in culture and tourism in the city. For Zulfi, 2025 was the pinnacle of a 30-year journey from a time when culture in Bradford meant a museum, to a year that put the city on the world stage.
David Watson
Assistant Director of Culture, Policy and Events at Bradford Council, a role created as part of Bradford's City of Culture legacy infrastructure. Trained originally as a dancer and choreographer, David has built a career as a cultural leader and has previously delivered a City of Culture programme. He arrived in Bradford five weeks before this recording, already consumed by the city's energy, and focused on turning a remarkable cultural year into a long-term movement.
Join the Conversation
The spotlight has moved on from Bradford's City of Culture year, but the legacy is only just beginning. What does culture-led regeneration look like when the cameras stop rolling?
Share your thoughts with us on Instagram or LinkedIn @TalkingPlacePodcast using #TalkingPlacePodcast
Links & Mentions
Bradford Council — https://www.bradford.gov.uk
UKREiiF 2026 — https://www.ukreiif.com
Bradford 2025 City of Culture — https://www.bradford2025.co.uk
West Yorkshire Combined Authority — https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk
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